1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to technologies for interpreting and presenting aviation weather information and more specifically to an Aviation Weather Awareness and Reporting Enhancements (AWARE) system using a Bayesian network and a Temporal-Spatial Weather Database.
2. Description of the Related Art
Weather is a complex, dynamic process with tremendous impact on aviation and a substantial contributor to many general aviation (GA) accidents. Fatal accident rates for GA pilots are much higher than those for commercial air transport (AT) pilots, and lack of weather awareness is a common cause of many GA accidents and incidents. In 1996, there were 1.51 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours for GA vs. 0.28 for AT operations in the U.S. Although weather awareness is not the sole culprit for the large disparity between the GA and AT accident rates, of the 11500 GA accidents between 1988 and 1992, over 3600 were attributable totally or in part to weather (National Transportation Safety Board statistics). Non-instrument-rated pilots inadvertently flying into instrument meteorological conditions cause a large percentage of fatal GA accidents. Instrument-rated pilots flying into catastrophic weather conditions such as thunderstorms and low-level wind shear also cause a number of fatal accidents.
During preflight, AT and GA pilots have access to large amounts of aviation weather data. However, it is difficult and time-consuming to identify weather hazards, due to the sheer amount, cryptic formatting, and lack of integration of the data. The pilots are required to review text-based weather data such as METARs, TAFs, FAs, pilot reports (PIREPs), SIGMETs, and AIRMETs from a service such as Direct User Access Terminal (DUAT), sectional maps and commercially available displays of NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) Imagery and to talk via telephone with a professional weather briefer. AT pilots have an additional source in the form of their dispatchers.
Consider the following icing and turbulence AIRMETs as an example of DUAT text data:                AIRMET ICE . . . WA OR CA        FROM TVL TO FAT TO BIH TO RNO TO TVL        LGT OCNL MOD RIME ICGIC BTN 070 FL200.        CONDS SPRDG SLOLY SEWD AND CONTG BYD 09Z THRU 15Z.        AIRMET TURB . . . WA OR CA ID        FROM EHF TO SMZ TO SBA TO VTU TO PMD TO EHF        OCNL MOD TURB BLW 120 DUE TO MOD WLY FLOW.        CONDS SPRDG EWD CONTG BYD 09Z THRU 15Z.Certain DUAT providers do a reasonable (but typically not entirely accurate) job in translating such reports to plain English text. A plain English report of the same AIRMETs might have the following information:        AIRMET Icing—Washington, Oregon, California        From South Lake Tahoe to Fresno to Bishop to Reno to South Lake Tahoe        Light occasional moderate rime icing in clouds between 7000 ft. MSL and FL200 (20,000 ft.). Conditions spreading slowly southeastward and continuing beyond 9:00 Zulu (GMT) through 15:00 Zulu.        AIRMET Turbulence—Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho        From Bakersfield to Santa Maria to Santa Barbara to Ventura to Palmdale to Bakersfield        Occasional moderate turbulence below 12,000 ft. due to moderate westerly flow.        Conditions spreading eastward and continuing beyond 09:00 Zulu through 15:00 Zulu.        
Consider also the following as an example of SIGMETs as another example of typical DUATs data:                MKCC WST 081855        CONVECTIVE SIGMET 87C        VALID UNTIL 2055Z        LA TX AND CSTL WTRS        FROM 40WSW MLU-20W LCH-60WSW LCH-100SSE IAH        LINE SEV TS 20 NM WIDE MOV FROM 22025KT. TOPS ABV FL450.        TORNADOES . . . HAIL TO 1 IN . . . WIND GUSTS TO 70 KT POSS.        CONVECTIVE SIGMET 88C        VALID UNTIL 2055Z        AR LA        FROM 50SSW ARG-30NW ELD-30SSW EIC        LINE EMBD TS 20 NM WIDE MOV FROM 22025KT. TOPS TO FL400.        OUTLOOK VALID 082055-090055        FROM LOU-40NE LOZ-GQO-MGM-30SSW CEW-120S LCH-90SE PSX-IAH-ACT-MLC-SGF-LOU        REF WW 786.        SFC LOW IS DEEPENING OVER SWRN LA IN RESPONSE TO UPR LOW LIFTING NEWD INTO SWRN TX. FNTL BDRY STRETCHES FM ERN GRTLKS        THRU CNTRL OH AND MID TN TO THE DVLPG LOW IN SWRN CRNR LA. AMS        IS VERY MOIST WITH SFC DWPNTS IN THE 70S FM SRN LA TO SRN AL        AND FL PNHDL. LINE OF STG/SVR TS EXPD TO CONT ALG THE FNT NEAR        THE SFC LOW AND CONT TO EXTD NWD INTO AR IN LOW LVL WRM        ADVCTN        ZONE. ADDTNL ACT EXPD IN THE WRM SECTOR EWD INTO SRN AL        AND FL        PNHDL WHERE SECONDARY LOW LVL JET IS AIDING DVLPMT. TS        ALSO        EXPD TO DVLP NEWD ALG THE FNT INTO ERN KY AND ERN TN.        HUDSON        
Ten, twenty and even thirty pages or more of non-translated text of this type in its most cryptic form is not uncommon for preflight weather briefings. While the data is copious it does not necessarily provide situation awareness; indeed it may lead to pilot information overload, which again may lead to loss of situation awareness on the part of the pilot.
The situation is similar for image data such as NEXRAD. NEXRAD imagery is now available from NIDS (NEXRAD Information Dissemination Service) providers at 5-minute intervals and is a valuable resource for visualizing thunderstorms developing or active along a flight plan. However, the visual imagery information is not correlated or integrated with the textual information available to a pilot, not tailored to a particular flight plan, and not prioritized based on hazard analysis. Again, loss of situation awareness on part of the pilot may result.
Once airborne, GA and AT pilots are usually limited to sparse information available via voice links and whatever is visible out the windshield. AT pilots must rely on often overwhelmed dispatchers to provide accurate, relevant and timely weather information. There are some capabilities in AT to augment dispatcher updates with textual reports in-cockpit. However, the same problems of overload, cryptic presentation and lack of integration that often occur during preflight remain.
On the ground, commercial dispatchers and air traffic controllers (controllers) have a tremendous responsibility for managing multiple aircraft during takeoff, cruise and landing in all types of weather. They are similarly overwhelmed with DUAT and NEXRAD data.
The aviation industry has a critical need for a system that can effectively filter, analyze, integrate and visualize the copious amounts of raw weather data to convey the most relevant and critical information to pilot and controller during preflight and in-cockpit in a user friendly manner.